Network Vision/LTE - Colorado Market (Denver/Colo Springs/Fort Collins/Pueblo/Grand Jct)

[MileHI38]

Wow 95-99% complete for NV 1.0 is awesome .......I went to a Sprint store just northeast of me and ran a speed test and it pulled down 31 Mbps DL & 6 Mbps UL....when I checked the signal it was connected to Band 41 with a -108 dbm signal, so I was surprised with a weak signal it pulled down those speeds which validated what you said about a weak signal on Band 41 (don't know if it was CA or not) giving better throughput than a strong B25/26 signal!

 

I'll see if I can become a sponsor so I have access to those maps, plus I think it would be cool to see the Sprint sites around town and the progress being made!

[narf]

Anyone know anything about roaming agreements in the Laramie Wy area? I work up there occasionally, and in the past I always could get at least a 1X  roaming signal. This week I was up there and nothing, I couldn't get any roaming at all and had no voice or data until I got to Cheyenne. I'm using a Note 4 with the most recent PRL (51)

[Jaramie3]

Hey guys,

 

My first post so go easy on me lol...... Anyhow I've been a lurker on S4GRU for many years going back to at least 2012 I think (don't quote me on that)?

 

A little backstory, had 2 lines on Sprint from 2009-2012. Started off with the HTC Evo 4g (good ol Wimax), then went to the Palm Pre and my wife had the Palm Pixie. Anyhow I was pretty satisfied with the service back then minus the slow speeds through Wimax and EVDO and then the whole Network Vision thing came along and..... well everybody knows how that went when it started and the length of time it took to rip and replace the network and get up to par with the other carriers in certain aspects of their networks and the whole Softbank buyout and the firing of Dan Hesse.

 

We then went to T-Mobile for a year or so and the speeds were great in 2013 when the whole uncarrier thing started but the quality of the calls and dropped calls were inferior to Sprints service back then, so we lasted only about a year with T-Mobile and went to AT&T for a couple years. The experience on AT&T wasn't bad per se but their speeds in Denver we awfully slow compared to T-Mobile and were getting kind of expensive to boot.

 

So we went back to T-Mobile back in November (3 months ago) and thought that with the deployment of Band 12 and some network modernization that the experience with them would be different than what it was back in 2013. Our experience these last couple of months have been mixed to say the least, they are no longer blazing quick like they were a few years ago, I don't know if it's because of congestion on the network now that they have added so many more subs (nationwide 20+ million) these past couple years and taking over 3rd nationally but their network has been slow and I have dropped numerous calls with them lately. It has definitely been more dropped calls than AT&T but the speeds seem to be on par with AT&T here in Denver from my experience?

 

We getting a pretty good deal with them now with 2 lines for $100 10 GB per line, unlimited data stash for a year and a free tablet that we pay $10 Mo for 5 GB of data and that line has Binge On activated for our kids and Netflix. So they haven't burned through the allotted 5 GB with Binge On which has been kind of nice for sure!

 

Saying all that I have been disappointed with signal strength/speeds/dropped calls etc........ So I have been thinking of switching back to Sprint for the first time in about 4 years! With the 50% off special they are running and the banners all over town saying that they have the fastest speeds in Denver per the Neilson data I was thinking of switching over but wanted to ask you guys your personal expertise with the NEW Sprint network in the Denver metropolitan area??

 

The only negative I see switching over is that we won't have the ability to swap out phones like you can on T-Mobile with Jump on Demand (3 upgrades per year, just turn in your phone and start another payment with another phone). From what they are saying in the store I can only upgrade once every 12 months but have to pay an extra $5 per line to do so?? Is that true? Also the data plans on their (Sprints) tablets are definitely more expensive than what T-Mobile has us at right now (5 GB tablet W/ Binge On included).

 

Sorry for the long winded first post guys but wanted to give a little background story and explain my thoughts on potentially switching over to Sprint to save some $$??

 

Thx

Also, what kind of speeds are you getting that you consider to be "slow"? 

[MileHI38]

Well there are certain areas of town where speeds are 10+ Mbps which is totally acceptable and nothing to complain about, but the areas around town maybe that I frequent more often and live see speeds hovering around 1-2 Mbps and sub 1 Mbps which is unacceptable to me in this day and age where streaming is more common for consumption personally/business wise and for my kids.

 

Maybe the most disappointing aspect of switching back to T-Mobile is the amount of dropped calls more than maybe the speeds if I'm being honest. Don't know if it's because they are routing all of their voice calls over VOLTE and the airlink is more fragile doing it that way vs Sprint running their voice coverage over 1x and that being more stable?

[S4GRU]

Anyone know anything about roaming agreements in the Laramie Wy area? I work up there occasionally, and in the past I always could get at least a 1X roaming signal. This week I was up there and nothing, I couldn't get any roaming at all and had no voice or data until I got to Cheyenne. I'm using a Note 4 with the most recent PRL (51)

I had Verizon 3G EVDO roaming in Laramie a few weeks ago. Does your device have roaming disabled in Settings? Or maybe you're on an old PRL. Try a PRL update the next time you're in the area.

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

[narf]

I had Verizon 3G EVDO roaming in Laramie a few weeks ago. Does your device have roaming disabled in Settings? Or maybe you're on an old PRL. Try a PRL update the next time you're in the area.

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

Nope, I checked several times to make sure that roaming was enabled,  and rebooted the phone a few times too. I'm on the current PRL 55051. 

[jimindenver]

T-Mobile vs Sprint here.

 

I have devices on both. There are areas that T-Mobile serves me better but T-Mobile drops the signal over and over on the way in to downtown. During heavy use times I can have a pretty decent signal and not have a internet connection, pretty sad when the antenna is blocks from your house. It goes from that to over 8 Mbps at midnight here at the house. High teens out and about.

 

The Sprint towers are farther from me at the house, I never get higher speeds but then again it stays connected. The signal rarely drops out around town and on the right towers it's zoom zoom.

 

Up in the mountains I am hoping TMO's band 12 works out as it's the only LTE up there. Other than that it's red and blue 2 and 3G, I'll be surprised if I pick up any Sprint signal.

[MileHI38]

^^^^^Jim I just sent you a PM for some more questions for you

 

Thx

[MileHI38]

Guys,

 

Since I'm still a newbie I have some more questions I hope you guys can answer for me:

 

1. How much 800 MHz spectrum does Sprint have nationwide? And this is considered Band 26 correct?

 

2. How much does the Colorado/Denver/Colorado Springs market have of Band 26......5x5, 10x10?

 

3. This is what phones will default to for better indoor penetration right?

 

4. When it defaults to Band 26 what is the capacity/speeds you usually get on this frequency??

 

Thx

[Dkoellerwx]

Guys,

 

Since I'm still a newbie I have some more questions I hope you guys can answer for me:

 

1. How much 800 MHz spectrum does Sprint have nationwide? And this is considered Band 26 correct?

 

2. How much does the Colorado/Denver/Colorado Springs market have of Band 26......5x5, 10x10?

 

3. This is what phones will default to for better indoor penetration right?

 

4. When it defaults to Band 26 what is the capacity/speeds you usually get on this frequency??

 

Thx

 

1. Yes, when it is use for LTE, it is band 26. They also utilize a small portion for 1xRTT, Band Class 10. Sprint only holds enough SMR spectrum for one 5x5 LTE carrier and one CDMA 1xRTT carrier. That holds true for nearly the whole country. The exceptions are mainly border regions (Canada/Mexico).

 

2. See above. 

 

3. Default, no. When Band 41/25 becomes too weak, your phone will drop to Band 26 if available.

 

4. The speeds are the same as the Band 25 carrier in Colorado. 5x5 carriers max out at 37Mbps download. 

[MileHI38]

Awesome! That's the info I needed to know (more out of curiosity).

 

So this is the spectrum that Nextel was using for PTT correct? If so it's crazy that the Nextel network operated on such a small amount of spectrum for PTT. But then again maybe not that much was needed because that was back in the day when there were no smart phones (no iPhone yet for the smart phone revolution) and it was voice/PTT and text only basically?

 

So based on your answer to question 4 above, your saying that the speed is the same for Band 25 (1900) 5x5 carrier in Colorado. Does that also mean that Sprint only has enough spectrum for Band 25 here in Colorado for a 5x5 carrier as well? Or do they employ more than one 5x5 carrier of Band 25 here?

Edited February 26, 2016 by MileHI38

[Dkoellerwx]

Awesome! That's the info I needed to know (more out of curiosity).

 

So this is the spectrum that Nextel was using for PTT correct? If so it's crazy that the Nextel network operated on such a small amount of spectrum for PTT. But then again maybe not that much was needed because that was back in the day when there were no smart phones (no iPhone yet for the smart phone revolution) and it was voice/PTT and text only basically?

 

So based on your answer to question 4 above, your saying that the speed is the same for Band 25 (1900) 5x5 carrier in Colorado. Does that also mean that Sprint only has enough spectrum for Band 25 here in Colorado for a 5x5 carrier as well? Or do they employ more than one 5x5 carrier of Band 25 here?

It is sort of the same spectrum that Nextel used. iDen channels were interlaced with public safety in very narrow channels (25kHz). iDen did not use much spectrum at all for each channel, so they were able to split the SMR spectrum with many entities. As part of the re-branding project, all of those tiny interlaced channels were reshuffled into one, larger contiguous block that could be used for wideband operations.

 

 

The peak speeds on Band 26 are the same as Band 25 in your market. Sprint does own additional PCS spectrum in Colorado, but it is being used for CDMA (1x and EVDO) operations right now. Until they can severely trim CDMA operations, or swap/acquire more PCS spectrum in the Denver metro area, a second or larger Band 25 channel is not possible.

 

Edit: This is why they are heavily deploying Band 41, because they have 100+MHz of spectrum to use there, and 3xCA coming down the pipe very soon bringing peak speeds close to 240Mbps.

[MileHI38]

Interesting didn't know that was how the SMR spectrum was utilized/split up with public safety channels. Glad Sprint was able to utilize all of that in one contiguous block after waiting for so many years!

 

Good to know on the Band 25 & Band 26 situation here...Thx

 

So has Band 41 been deployed on every cell site/location here in Denver/Colorado? Or is it a strategic placement based on overlapping towers or based on backhaul?

 

How exciting to think of peak speeds of 240 Mbps with 3xCA but I'm assuming that's a ways off and I don't know if any phones are capable of that yet?

[Dkoellerwx]

So has Band 41 been deployed on every cell site/location here in Denver/Colorado? Or is it a strategic placement based on overlapping towers or based on backhaul?

 

How exciting to think of peak speeds of 240 Mbps with 3xCA but I'm assuming that's a ways off and I don't know if any phones are capable of that yet?

 

It is not on every site, but well more than half and the deployment continues, likely to ramp up over the next couple months. It will be on every site in the metro in the near future. 

 

3xCA is just around the corner. Once Samsung, ALU and Nokia finish up their FIT testing, it will begin to roll out. Probably this summer, maybe earlier. The Samsung Galaxy S7/Edge and LG G5 will be 3xCA capable, as will the HTC M10 most likely. 

[MileHI38]

Very cool .......which means to be future proof it would be wise to get one of the phones you mentioned above to be on the safe side.

 

I was contemplating the Note 5 but might as well look towards those phones for that capability (3xCA) and the micro sd card capability coming back to the S7/Edge again!

[rmfebles]

Are there any plans to expand the Sprint coverage footprint in the central Colorado mountains, specifically around Leadville, Kremmling, and Fairplay/Alma areas? These are feeder/bedroom communities to the ski resort areas of Summit (Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin) and Eagle (Vail, Beaver Creek) where many of the workers in these communities live. With Sprint being the official telecommunications provider of Vail Resorts (owners and operators of Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, and Breckenridge ski resorts) it has surprised me that they haven't made a move to expand coverage to these surrounding communities. These communities are the "suburbs" of the ski resort communities where the workforce lives and commutes to the ski resort communities for work. A unique dynamic, but not unlike any city, with the resort communities being the economic hub of the area and the more affordable towns being where a large percentage of the workforce lives. 

[MileHI38]

^^^I'd be interested to know on this question as well?

[Dkoellerwx]

It certainly would make sense, and it is possible. At this time we don't have any specific information on expansion. Doesn't mean it's not planned, just that we don't have the data.

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

[jimindenver]

I know in some of the areas up there commnet is building the towers and the carriers rent. The Harris park tower is massive with a single set of antennas at the top but people that can see it are hit and miss getting a signal. I have all four carriers but no roaming so it will likely be useless for me.

 

The area we camp in is around Jefferson/ Kenosha pass. I won't be able to test until spring but according to the maps you lose Sprint just after the pass, it's AT&T 2G and Verizon 3G into Jefferson and you won't pick up TMO until you head down 77 towards Tarryall. The outer fringes of a band 12 boomer cuts the Rock creek area in half but I'm not putting too many eggs in that basket. I got a signal from AT&T on the front half of rock creek last year but only in the morning. By 9 AM the tower had breathed and we were down to TnT.

 

Before we start the summer travels up there I will become a sponsor if I can. I'm pretty sure I have all the native bands that can be connected to up there covered, just no roaming. Apps can be added to the R+ and cricket phone, the hotspot managers will tell me what they are connected to.

[MileHI38]

Guys,

 

Just jumped on board the Sprint wagon with 2 lines (first time since 2012 when we left) on Friday and wanted to give my experience so far with the network here in the Denver metro.

 

I have LTE Discovery installed along with the Speedtest.net (Ookla) and have been running speed tests galore the past 3 days. In my area of town NE Thornton 128th & Quebec approx the signal is at best marginal. My house we don't get very good service and the phone hunts around between B41/B26/B25 and doesn't seem to like any of them. Currently my B26 is showing -106dBm and when it switches to B41 in the house it'll be around -119ish and then switch to B25 at around -110ish.

 

This morning we woke up to our phones saying no service and emergency calls only! When I walked downstairs it reacquired a signal, but a weak one at that. I went to the Sprint store yesterday to check my area to see if there were any outages and there were none.

 

He did pull up the internal engineering screen and showed me the nearest towers that I should be connected to and one is 1.1 miles from my house and is the only one in the area with B41/B26/B25/CA he said that it has microwave backhaul.

 

The other tower nearest to me is about 2 miles away and is a B25 only site with no current plans to upgrade to B41/B26 and is Ethernet connected (that's what the computer screen said about this particular site). He said that if my phone connects to this particular tower on B25 then that could explain the dropped calls and bad service? With no planned upgrades to this site that kind of sucks because we just moved here about 8 months ago and aren't moving anytime soon lol.....

 

So if my service continues to be sketchy inside of our house then I'll have to see if they can send us a Air Rave. I spoke with technical support earlier and they said that our phones during activation at the store didn't finish completing the SCRTN process so the phones were missing the PRL & Firmware from the ##72786# so I updated both phones about 3 hours ago and the verdict's out on whether or not that is going to solve our issues here at the house?? She also said that they might not approve the Air Rave because on the coverage map it shows that we have good coverage at our house?

 

I've driven all around the city over the weekend and the network seems pretty good speed wise when your on B41, speeds aren't that great if it's on B25/B26 but that's to be expected considering that there is less bandwidth with those frequencies. I'll be honest here coming from T-Mobile the network doesn't seem as dense as T-Mobile here in Denver, don't know if it has anything to do with tower spacing between them and Sprints towers?

 

I have noticed more holes in the network compared to T-Mobile and areas where I would fall back into 3G or no service at all unfortunately. I don't know what's in the works as far as upgrades still to existing towers but I feel that there is still work to be done as far as densification and adding more B41 to areas that need spectrum.

 

I'm only 3 days into my journey here with the new and improved Sprint as opposed to 4 years ago when we were last with them, but am probably going to stick it out and see what happens with the network over the next 12 months. We are saving a good amount of money coming over to Sprint so we are looking at this from a financial point of view for now.

 

I promise my next response/thread won't be this long winded I just felt I needed to explain my initial experience in this particular thread pertaining to the Denver market. I wish things were better where I live, but we'll see if my area gets another Macro site/small cell or upgraded legacy sites near me soon (fingers crossed)?!

[bucdenny]

Guys,

 

Just jumped on board the Sprint wagon with 2 lines (first time since 2012 when we left) on Friday and wanted to give my experience so far with the network here in the Denver metro.

 

I have LTE Discovery installed along with the Speedtest.net (Ookla) and have been running speed tests galore the past 3 days. In my area of town NE Thornton 128th & Quebec approx the signal is at best marginal. My house we don't get very good service and the phone hunts around between B41/B26/B25 and doesn't seem to like any of them. Currently my B26 is showing -106dBm and when it switches to B41 in the house it'll be around -119ish and then switch to B25 at around -110ish.

 

This morning we woke up to our phones saying no service and emergency calls only! When I walked downstairs it reacquired a signal, but a weak one at that. I went to the Sprint store yesterday to check my area to see if there were any outages and there were none.

 

He did pull up the internal engineering screen and showed me the nearest towers that I should be connected to and one is 1.1 miles from my house and is the only one in the area with B41/B26/B25/CA he said that it has microwave backhaul.

 

The other tower nearest to me is about 2 miles away and is a B25 only site with no current plans to upgrade to B41/B26 and is Ethernet connected (that's what the computer screen said about this particular site). He said that if my phone connects to this particular tower on B25 then that could explain the dropped calls and bad service? With no planned upgrades to this site that kind of sucks because we just moved here about 8 months ago and aren't moving anytime soon lol.....

 

So if my service continues to be sketchy inside of our house then I'll have to see if they can send us a Air Rave. I spoke with technical support earlier and they said that our phones during activation at the store didn't finish completing the SCRTN process so the phones were missing the PRL & Firmware from the ##72786# so I updated both phones about 3 hours ago and the verdict's out on whether or not that is going to solve our issues here at the house?? She also said that they might not approve the Air Rave because on the coverage map it shows that we have good coverage at our house?

 

I've driven all around the city over the weekend and the network seems pretty good speed wise when your on B41, speeds aren't that great if it's on B25/B26 but that's to be expected considering that there is less bandwidth with those frequencies. I'll be honest here coming from T-Mobile the network doesn't seem as dense as T-Mobile here in Denver, don't know if it has anything to do with tower spacing between them and Sprints towers?

 

I have noticed more holes in the network compared to T-Mobile and areas where I would fall back into 3G or no service at all unfortunately. I don't know what's in the works as far as upgrades still to existing towers but I feel that there is still work to be done as far as densification and adding more B41 to areas that need spectrum.

 

I'm only 3 days into my journey here with the new and improved Sprint as opposed to 4 years ago when we were last with them, but am probably going to stick it out and see what happens with the network over the next 12 months. We are saving a good amount of money coming over to Sprint so we are looking at this from a financial point of view for now.

 

I promise my next response/thread won't be this long winded I just felt I needed to explain my initial experience in this particular thread pertaining to the Denver market. I wish things were better where I live, but we'll see if my area gets another Macro site/small cell or upgraded legacy sites near me soon (fingers crossed)?!

Request for a Sprint Wi-fi Connect Router and use wi-fi calling instead. Sprint will ship you an Asus router free. 1-866-556-7310 and just simply tell them you have a dead spot in the house and you already dealt with support. If first call doesn't get you one simply hang up and try again. I have weak LTE in my house and get drop calls too since my phone trying to switch between two sites that is 1 mile from me. Good luck.

[MileHI38]

Thanks, is the Wifi Connect Router the same as the Air Rave? What's the difference from doing a wifi call over my current home router?

[Jaramie3]

Thanks, is the Wifi Connect Router the same as the Air Rave? What's the difference from doing a wifi call over my current home router?

 

No the Wifi Connect Router is not the same. Its literally a router that you hook up through your home internet.

[bucdenny]

Thanks, is the Wifi Connect Router the same as the Air Rave? What's the difference from doing a wifi call over my current home router?

Sprint's router will have QOS for wi-fi calling. I have one which works great.

[MileHI38]

^^^^Ahhh ok so it's the QOS that differentiates it from your standard router that you would run in your home. So this router that Sprint would send out would have it's own SSID to broadcast for phone calls in the house?